KEY POINTS:
- Former Trump Plaza executive says Trump and Epstein brought 19-year-old to casino floor in late 1980s
- Wall Street Journal reports 2003 birthday letter to Epstein bore Trump’s name and lewd drawing
- DOJ memo finds no Epstein “client list” and confirms suicide, angering Trump supporters
- Trump calls controversy “Jeffrey Epstein Hoax” and attacks Republicans demanding transparency
- Democrats seize on issue to divide Trump from his base, demanding full file release
A former executive at Donald Trump’s Atlantic City casino has claimed the president and Jeffrey Epstein once brought an underage woman onto the casino floor, adding new scrutiny to their past relationship as the Trump administration faces backlash over its handling of the Epstein investigation files.
Jack O’Donnell, who served as president and chief operating officer of Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino from the late 1980s to 1990, told CNN on July 16 that Trump and Epstein brought three women to the casino floor, including one who was 19 years old and therefore not legally permitted to be in the gaming area. According to O’Donnell, state gaming commission officials identified the woman as “the No. 3 tennis player in the world” at the time.
“He frequently came down to Atlantic City, the two of them, to attend special events,” O’Donnell told CNN’s Erin Burnett. “In my mind, [Epstein] was his best friend, you know, from really the time I was there for four years.”
The White House strongly denied O’Donnell’s claims. “Jack O’Donnell is a stone cold loser who is a liar and fraud,” White House communications director Steven Cheung told People magazine. “This is completely fabricated story from his warped imagination as he suffers from Trump Derangement Syndrome that has rotted his pea-sized brain.”
Wall Street Journal Reports Birthday Letter
The controversy intensified when The Wall Street Journal reported on July 17 that a 2003 birthday album for Epstein included a letter bearing Trump’s name. According to the Journal, the letter “contains several lines of typewritten text framed by the outline of a naked woman, which appears to be hand-drawn with a heavy marker.” The Journal reported that “a pair of small arcs denotes the woman’s breasts, and the future president’s signature is a squiggly ‘Donald’ below her waist, mimicking pubic hair.”
The letter reportedly concluded with: “Happy Birthday — and may every day be another wonderful secret.”
Trump denied writing the letter in an interview with the Journal on July 15, stating: “I never wrote a picture in my life. I don’t draw pictures of women.” He threatened to sue the newspaper if it published the story.
Following publication, Trump posted on Truth Social that he would sue The Wall Street Journal, NewsCorp, and Rupert Murdoch. Vice President JD Vance defended Trump, writing on X that the Journal “should be ashamed” for publishing the story.
DOJ Memo Sparks MAGA Backlash
The Epstein controversy erupted after the Justice Department released a memo on July 7 stating that an “exhaustive review” found no evidence of an Epstein “client list” and confirmed he died by suicide. According to the memo, investigators found “no incriminating ‘client list,'” “no credible evidence… that Epstein blackmailed prominent individuals,” and no “evidence that could predicate an investigation against uncharged third parties.”
The findings contradicted months of promises from Trump administration officials. Attorney General Pam Bondi had told Fox News in February that the Epstein client list was “sitting on my desk right now.” FBI Director Kash Patel had told the Senate during confirmation hearings he would “absolutely” work to release information about Epstein’s sex trafficking rings.
The reversal sparked fury among Trump’s base. House Speaker Mike Johnson broke with Trump on July 15, telling podcaster Benny Johnson: “I’m for transparency. It’s a very delicate subject, but we should put everything out there and let the people decide it.” Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene told Real America’s Voice on July 16: “This is Jeffrey Epstein. This is the most famous pedophile in modern-day history, and people are absolutely not going to accept just a memo.”
Trump Attacks “Weaklings” in His Base
Trump responded to the backlash with increasing anger, calling the controversy a “hoax” perpetrated by Democrats. In a Truth Social post on July 16, Trump wrote: “Their new SCAM is what we will forever call the Jeffrey Epstein Hoax, and my PAST supporters have bought into this ‘bullshit,’ hook, line, and sinker.”
“Let these weaklings continue forward and do the Democrats work, don’t even think about talking of our incredible and unprecedented success, because I don’t want their support anymore!” Trump added.
Speaking to reporters at the White House on July 16, Trump called Republicans questioning the Epstein investigation “stupid” and “foolish.” When asked by ABC News if he was disowning these supporters, Trump said: “Yeah I lost a lot of faith in certain people because they got duped by Democrats.”
Democrats Seize Political Opportunity
Democrats have capitalized on the internal Republican division, with multiple House members introducing legislation to force release of all Epstein files. Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) filed an amendment that would require Bondi to “release and publish” all Epstein records “on a publicly available website” within 30 days.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said on July 14: “Democrats didn’t put the Epstein matter into the public domain. This was a conspiracy that Donald Trump, Pam Bondi and these MAGA extremists have been fanning the flames of for the last several years, and now the chickens are coming to roost.”
The Democratic National Committee launched a new X account that posts daily reminders that Trump has “not released the Epstein files.” The account’s header features a June 5 quote from Elon Musk claiming without evidence that Trump “is in the Epstein files. That is the real reason they have not been made public.”
Trump’s History with Epstein
Trump and Epstein’s relationship dates to the 1980s, according to multiple reports. In 2002, Trump told New York magazine: “I’ve known Jeff for 15 years. Terrific guy. He’s a lot of fun to be with. It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side.”
Flight logs showed Trump took at least seven flights on Epstein’s private jet in the 1990s between Palm Beach and New York City. An Epstein address book leaked in 2009 contained 14 phone numbers for Trump, Melania Trump and Trump’s staff, according to media reports.
Trump has said he banned Epstein from Mar-a-Lago in the early 2000s. Former Trump aide Sam Nunberg told The Washington Post in 2019 that Trump said he banned Epstein because he had recruited a young woman who worked there to give him massages. A 2020 book by Miami Herald and Wall Street Journal reporters linked the ban to alleged overtures to a teenage daughter of a Mar-a-Lago member.
Virginia Giuffre, an Epstein victim, said she was recruited into the sex-trafficking ring while working at Mar-a-Lago in 2000.
Partial Transparency Effort
Following days of criticism, Trump announced on July 17 that he had asked Bondi to seek court permission to unseal “any and all pertinent Grand Jury testimony” related to Epstein. Bondi reposted Trump’s announcement on X, writing: “President Trump—we are ready to move the court tomorrow to unseal the grand jury transcripts.”
Legal experts noted that grand jury testimony is typically kept secret and represents only a small portion of investigation materials. Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) told MSNBC that releasing only grand jury testimony would be insufficient, saying “just release all of the documents.”
The Justice Department fired prosecutor Maurene Comey on July 16, one of the prosecutors who had worked on cases against Epstein and Maxwell. Comey is the daughter of former FBI Director James Comey.
